Virgin Trains has now taken Network Rail's decision to refuse paths for the proposed twice-daily services to Shrewsbury and Blackpool North (RBl440 p4) to the Access Disputes Committee. Still confident that the eight paths requested are fully compliant and will not have a negative impact on WCML performance, Virgin remains optimistic that it will be able to introduce the new services as planned this December. Virgin Trains Chief Operating Officer Chris Gibb told RBI: 'not only have we carefully modelled these paths, but Network Rail is talking about a risk to PPM on the WCML from these trains but has failed to acknowledge the improvements that should be achieved from other changes to our services such as the integration of the Birmingham - Scotland services with West Midlands - Euston trains. This will have a significant impact on the heavily-congested route between Birmingham and Wolverhampton through the reduction of the number of trains we operate on that section'.
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